Profiling Patterns of Congruence in Youth Golf Coaches’ Life Skills Teaching

Abstract

Youth sport is an ideal environment for life skills development that is influenced by coaches’ intentions and actions. In this study, patterns of congruence in golf coaches’ life skills teaching were profiled by matching self-report and observational data. Thirteen coaches were interviewed preseason, observed coaching in-season, and interviewed postseason. Data were deductively analyzed to profile life skills delivery congruence by identifying the highest level coaches anticipated coaching, were observed coaching, and reported coaching on the implicit/explicit continuum. Five profiles were identified across incongruent and congruent categorizations. Findings outline the intention-action connection for coaches to facilitate positive youth sport climates.

Lay Summary:

Thirteen coaches were assessed on the congruence of their life skills teaching within junior golf programing through pre- and postseason interviews and in-season observations. Coaches were categorized into five profiles, as being either incongruent (i.e., underestimator, overestimator, unaware) or congruent (i.e., nonintentional, intentional) in their approach to teaching life skills.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We acknowledge Dr. Bradley Young, Dr. Diane Culver, and Ashley Thompson for their support throughout this study. We thank Adam Hunter and Jeff Thompson from Golf Canada for their collaboration. We also thank the coaches for their participation, and the reviewers for their constructive input.

Additional information

Funding

Research Council of Canada [The Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, grant number 008-004-138; Partnership Engage Grant, grant number 892-2017-2006].